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Mihintale Museum (Telephone: 025 2222411) |
Mihintale Archaeological Museum (Sinhala: මිහින්තලේ පුරාවිද්යා කෞතුකාගාරය), Sri Lanka is one of the Regional Museums Administered by the Department of Archaeology. It is located between the Ruins of Maninaga Mandiraya and Mihintale Ancient Hospital Complex.
History
The building that presently houses the museum was originally established in 1979 under the Gam Udawa Program on an idea of the then Member of Parliament, Dayaratne Walagambahuas as a government inn to accommodate devotees who visit Mihintale. However, the Buddhist monk, Mihintale Ratnajothi Thera requested the Department of Archaeology to establish a museum at this location. In response, the Department of Archaeology took over the building and prepared it as a museum and opened it on 24 June 1984 under the patronage of the then Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Ranasinghe Premadasa.
However, by the year 2000, the museum had fallen into a dilapidated state. In 2005, the museum was closed as it was no longer possible to maintain in a dilapidated building. Therefore, as part of the Mihintale Sacred Area Development Project, the museum was renovated and ceremonially opened again in 2012 under the patronage of the Ministry of National Heritage.
The Museum
The museum houses antiquities discovered from the Mihintale Monstery and its surrounding area (Rambukwella, 2014). More than 125 artifacts are presently on display placed in 7 galleries. A relic chamber recovered during the excavation of the Giribhanda Stupa in Mihintale is placed near the entrance gate, while the 2nd and 3rd galleries contain information on the water management methods of the Mihintale complex and artifacts found in various areas. The other galleries houses the artifacts and details related to ancient health and hygiene methods associated with Janthaghara, Mihintale Hospital Complex, and the designs of toilets reflecting guest hygiene. Besides that, the museum also displays various kinds of other valuable objects such as beads, coins, metal objects, paintings, stone objects and terracotta figures (Rambukwella, 2014).
The museum is open for visitors from 9.00 A.M. to 4.00 P.M.
Read Also
References
Dissertations
1) Rambukwella, M.W.C.N.K., 2014. Heritage representation in culturally diverse societies: a case study of the Colombo National Museum in Sri Lanka (Doctoral dissertation, School of Museum Studies). p.408.
